ALWAYSBACK

6822 - STEVE MARCUS - Tomorrow Never Knows (1968)

STEVE MARCUS
''TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS''
APRIL 1968
35:31

1 /Eight Miles High
Gene Clark / David Crosby / James McGuinn / Roger McGuinn/4:47
2 /Mellow Yellow
Donovan / Donovan Leitch/3:54
3 /Listen People
Graham Gouldman/2:27
4 /Rain
John Lennon / Paul McCartney/7:04
5 /Tomorrow Never Knows
John Lennon / Paul McCartney/11:10
6 /Half a Heart
Gary Burton/5:21

Gary Burton /Guest Artist, Tambourine
Larry Coryell /Guest Artist, Guitar
Chris Hills /Bass
Herbie Mann /Producer
Steve Marcus /Sax (Soprano), Sax (Tenor), Saxophone
Bob Moses /Drums, Guest Artist
Mike Nock /Guest Artist, Piano

Review
By Richie Unterberger
Steve Marcus' first solo album was an audacious and overlooked early jazz-rock fusion effort, predating by a year or two the more celebrated innovations in this field by the likes of Miles Davis and John McLaughlin. All but one of the six tracks are instrumental versions -- mildly to radically extended -- of then-recent rock songs, among them "Eight Miles High" (a natural for the jazz treatment), the Beatles' "Rain" and "Tomorrow Never Knows," "Mellow Yellow," and the less likely Herman's Hermits hit "Listen People." In a way it's a more free jazzy, wholly instrumental outgrowth of the similarly near-forgotten early fusion group the Free Spirits, as three-fifths of the Free Spirits (who had put out a slightly earlier album on ABC) -- guitarist Larry Coryell, drummer Bob Moses, and bassist Chris Hills -- make up three-fifths of the band on Tomorrow Never Knows. Coryell contributes some fierce electric guitar work (getting into some feedback on "Tomorrow Never Knows"), and Mike Nock some psychedelic-style electric keyboards, though bandleader Marcus does assume the greatest prominence with his Coltrane-ish saxophone improvisations. Whether this would appeal to rock-grounded listeners, despite the undoubtedly rock-grounded material, depends very much on individual tastes. Though at times it sticks fairly close to the familiar riffs and melodies of the songs, at others it goes into extremely adventurous, at times even cacophonous free jazz (as they do at the end of "Mellow Yellow") that might lose some less hardy souls. "Eight Miles High" and "Tomorrow Never Knows" (where Coryell really lets loose) are the most successful tracks, with the closing Gary Burton composition "Half a Heart" taking the band back to more introspective, straighter jazz grooves. The CD reissue on Water is boosted by thorough historical liner notes, including recollections by Marcus and Nock.

Biography
by Jason Ankeny

Tenor saxophonist Steve "The Count" Marcus was a pioneering force behind the emergence of what would eventually become known as fusion. Born in New York City on September 18, 1939, Marcus initially desired to play guitar, but when he couldn't find a teacher, he adopted the clarinet instead and finally moved to saxophone at age 15. He was a student at the Berklee School of Music in 1962 when Stan Kenton came to Boston for a gig. When Kenton's tenor saxophonist, Charlie Mariano, skipped rehearsal to visit his family, Marcus sat in and six weeks later was given the gig full time. Kenton dissolved the band in late 1963 and from there Marcus worked with Woody Herman and Gary Burton, additionally fronting his own bands. In 1966 Marcus teamed Herbie Mann at the beginning of the flautist's experiments with rock rhythms and ethnic music. A year later, he partnered with guitarist Larry Coryell in the Count's Rock Band and cut the 1968 Mann-produced, jazz-rock landmark Tomorrow Never Knows. Deemed a sellout in many quarters upon its release, the record is today a cult classic that represents one of the first and most successful marriages of jazz and psychedelia. In 1969, Marcus and Coryell reunited in Foreplay, a precursor to their subsequent fusion project Eleventh House, and in 1970 Marcus toured Japan with the experimental guitarist Sonny Sharrock. He joined the Buddy Rich Big Band in 1975, and served alongside Rich until the drummer's 1987 death. At Marcus' urging, Rich embraced rock and electronics, a progression that helped the group remain relevant at a time when most big bands were forced to dissolve. After Rich's death, Marcus took the reins of the band, and in 1999, teamed with fellow alumni to record the LP Buddy's Buddies. The following year, he and Coryell joined yet again, this time as the Count's Jam Band. Marcus died in New Hope, Pennsylvania on September 25, 2005.